Purchase of local aerospace company is a good sign, says executive

Company officials and Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, fourth from right, attend a groundbreaking ceremony for Aerospace Dynamics International's building in Valencia.

The multimillion dollar purchase of Santa Clarita-based Aerospace Dynamics International by Precision Castparts Corp. last week is a good thing for the company and the community, said an executive with ADI.

“PCC is very committed to the company in California,” said Bill Barritt, chief financial officer for ADI. “You’ll see a long-term positive economic impact. You’ll see rapid growth over the next three years.”

The marriage between the Portland, Ore.-based PCC and Aerospace Dynamics is only going to help ADI grow, he said.

Becoming part of PCC creates a number of benefits for ADI, Barritt said, including leveraging the skill sets, and specialties and manufacturing expertise.

“We can coordinate what each company does best, and together as a family, we can grow and prosper,” he said.

Looking at decades of growth in commercial aviation, not to mention the potential growth of military orders on an international scale, the local aerospace company is excited to join PCC.

PCC is a worldwide, diversified manufacturer of complex metal components and products, serving the aerospace, power, and general industrial markets.

The company is committed to aligning growth with education and job training — they have a strong commitment to creating an experienced and well-honed workforce, Barritt said. That kind of skills training is necessary to becoming increasingly competitive.

Specializing in large complex components, hard metal machining and critical assemblies, ADI has significant contracts with French-based company Airbus.

The Boeing Company and Spirit AeroSystems also named ADI a Supplier of the Year in 2011.

In October 2012, ADI broke ground to build a new 88,000-square-foot building on Rye Canyon in Valencia to serve as the manufacturing production facility for Airbus, which produces nearly half of the world’s jet airlines.

“ADI has a much better chance of being sustained by joining PCC,” Barritt said. “It’s hard to do that as a standalone business.”

ADI was part of the Inglewood-based The Marvin Group at the time of the transaction.

The $625 million transaction will be treated as the acquisition of assets for tax purposes, said a spokesperson for PCC.

“We’ll be able to do what we’ve done in the past but on a larger scale,” Barritt said.The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2015.